CRICKET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 9

CRICKET.

Okaiawa have been strengthened by the addition bl Dr. Hockin, now: of Kaponga, but formerly of Hamilton, ihe doctor was one of the leading players in the Waikato district, and ir he can find time to play regularly will be of great benefit ‘to cricket locally.

The senior matches start to-day, and judging by the enthusiasm manifested a good season is in prospectSeveral new players of parts have recently come into the district, and this all means a general raising of the standard. Stratford Technical School have had to fall out of the junior competition, which will mean a bye every Saturday! They will be able to play their school matches and intend taking part in the bilson Cup matches. The Wellington Association have allocated tlieir new coach, F. T. Badcock, to the Institute Club lor match play. The schedule of coaching duties shows that the coach will he wholly employed among the schools aud a dozen picked colts of the association. This is a. step in ihe right direction, which will make for good results SYDNEY RESULTS Sydney, nine wickets for 212, heat Gordon, eight wickets for 201 (innings declared closed), by one wicket and 11 runs Waverley, five wickets for 439 (innings declared closed) beat St. George, 181. by 258 runs, on the first innings. University, 284, drew with Glebe, six wickets for 269. Raiidwick, 277, drew with Manly, six wickets for 179. Mosman, 235, drew with Cumberland, three wickets for 105. North Sydney, 406, beat Petersham, 189, by 217 runs on the first innings. Western Suburbs, 198, beat Marrickville,' 134 and two wickets for 17, by 64 runs on the first innings. Paddington, 253, drew with Balmain, five wickets for 109. . Batting.—A. Vincent (North Sydney) 197, A. Grey (Glebe) 111, G. Rolleston (Sydney) 103. YV. G. F. Brown (North Sydney) 102. IV. Barcfsley (Western Suburbs) 84,' D. Mullarkey (St. George) 75, O. Ward ORandwick), not out 66, J. M. Gregory (Manly) 58, E>. L. Waddy (Cumberland), not out 52, G. Wheatley (Balmain) 52. Bowling.—C. Kelleway . (Gordon), e°ven wickets for 83. E. Tweeddale (Marrickville), five wickets for 46, C. O’Connor (Waverley), five wickets for 62. A GREAT BATSMAN. The London Sportsman has opened a subscription list to aid Robert Abel, the great Surrey batsman of-a generation ago. Abel is probably the greatest of the great names of Surrey batsmen, and if he was not an absolute model as a batsman he was safe and sure and' a terror to the opposing bowlers. No more popular player has ever appeared at the Oval than the Guv’nor, and stories about him are legion. Abel was ope. of .the- men (Lohmnnn, W. W. Re ad’-and, M. Read were the other principals) who lifted Surrey right out of the slough of ctespond into, the front rank as a cricketing county. Some years ago he was almost blind, but after a series of operations he practicallv regained his vision, hut apparently his old trouble has reappeared. He had a lot of bad luck in business, and it seems a great pity that he should have such a had run in the eventide of life. ENGLISH CRICKET. In the course of a conversation with a Christchurch Star representative, Mr. .F. Wilding, well known as one of the leading cricketers of the Dominion thirty years ago, gave some interesting cricket impressions after a trip to: England. Inter alia lie said: “In spite of the disastrous climatic conditions throughout the whole of the English season. I saw enough of cricket at Lords to convince me that English cricket is on the up grade. There is no question but that there hah been a slump since 1914, and I saw no howler that impressed me as being anything' above the ordinary standard of first-class cricket in England. The hatting, on the other hand, is extraordinarily safe and good. I saw no cricket on a really hard wicket, but excellent scores were nut up in many of the matches, and the batting averages of the team that is now on its way to Australia, convince me that Australia, will be fully extended. I anticipate that the Australian howling will be better, hut the English batting and fielding will leave very little to be desired, and I shall be surprised if England does not win two out of the five Test matches. I believe the Australians will win the rubber, hut they, will by no means have the walk-over that Armstrong’s team had in the last two series. The English fielding is very good. As a spectacular batsman, Woolley stands out alone, but for safety I prefer Hendren and Hobbs, and of the two I would place Hendren first. Sutcliffe is.also a very fine batsman; in fact, there is not a weak batsman in the team.'’ TWO CURIOUS INCIDENTS. (Referee.) Mr C. W. Hoore writes from Sydney : The incidents here described what actually happened in a match in which 1 was engaged on Saturday, September 20. in the St. George Cricket Association Competition: (1) A batsman, making a stroke, a chip flew off the shoulder of his bat and dislodged the bails. The ball did not make contact with the wicket. Neither umpire officiating would give a definite decision. Was the batsman out or not? (2) The wicketkeeper, standing well hack, took what he understood to he a catch, and before awaiting for the umpire to give his decision, threw the hall away almost to the boundary. The umpire gave the batsman not out. and ‘ they then commenced to run, and ran two runs. The umpire gave no runs. Was this correct? As the match ended in a tie after four completed innings, it will he seen that the points have a great interest to both sides. In question (In the striker was out “hit wicket.” There is a precedent in first-class cricket. In playing the hall from ,T. T. Ttawlin at Oval on Mn.v 5, 1894, in the ma-teh Surrey v. Middlesex, a niece of D. L. A. JeDhson’s hat went off and removed the bnl. He was given out, “hit wicket Tn the second case it is a matter of fact for th« umpire +o determine when the ball was “finallv settled” in the wicket-keeper’s: hand. On the statement put- forward, the hall

was not dead, and the runs should have been credited to the hatting side. But in matters of fact no two persons see things alike, and the umpire may state , the case differently. THE TRUE SPORTING SPIRIT. MAKING OF BRITISH PEOPLE. NOBLE ON THE GAME. In a team selected bv Mr E. E. Salmon to play the North‘Shore (Sydney) Grammar School first eleven Messrs M. A. Noble and Jack Gregory played their first game of the season. Subsequently Mr Salmon entertained his team aand some other friends at din- ? e L and in reply to the toast of his nealth, the ex-Australian captain opened his heart on the noble game. “It is sometimes declared,” he said •‘that there is too muc-h sport nowadays. It depends on what you mean ‘oy sport. If you mean there are too many people looking on at games, there may be something in the charge.” But-Hie playing of games, and, above all, cricket, was, he said, the making of the British people, and he included the Australian. Should we have won the war without it—without the discipline the readiness in good temper to do one s best, the patience and unselfishness and team-work taught by cricket? He remembered that when he was in England with the 1909 eleven the Australians received, a command to visit King Edward at Balmoral Castle. The King manifested the greatest interest in their tour, and was most kind to all °Aj S 6 l n ’ ? nd when tak ing leave lie (Noble) asked the King’s commissioner to convey to his Majesty the lovalty and gratitude of Australian sportsmen t0 * Say froin the Australian Eleven that if ever a time of trouble came, the spirit, of Australian sportsmen would send them in full strength to aid the Empire J cause. “I little knew, ” added Mr Noble, “how soon my words would come true.” H; was the sporting, spirit which sent c men rom file Dominions to fight with the British arm s in GalliFrance > and which sent nearly 400 000 of that million from Australia And, in speaking of international cricket after the war, he would ask them to remember that nearlv 2,000,000 young Englishmen perished during that struggle, and with them the flower of England’s promising young cricketers English cricket, suffered from the war ,™ ore tha h Australian cricket. After the armistice a team selected from the, A.I.F. had a golden chance to revive Australian cricket Thev toured England and South Africa, and recreated an Australian international eleven, and that A.I.F. eleven was still the nucleus of any representative Australian Eleven.. England did not. have such a chance to revive her game. He had watched with intense interest and sympathy the efforts of England to Duild up again her cricketing strength and he thought, the English team' now on the water would prove worthy opponents. It would indeed be no bad thing for the great game they all loved it England took home the ashes. With a season of good, clean games, and each side trying its hardest,Jf England won there would be nobody better pleased than himse,lf. He thought that was'the way to play cricket. It was the way he had tried whenever he could to teach the youngsters to play—plav for the game’s sake ail the time. After retailing some memories of the late Alec. Bannerman, Spofforth Turner, Umpire Phillips, and “dear old Victor Trumper,” with whom he was at- school at Crown street—dwelling especially on Trumper’s immense influence on .Australian batting—Mr Noble said cricket was bigger than New South Wales or Australia; it was the game which moulded the character of men in every British country. He and others, whom he believed were now called ‘‘the old hands”—though he felt he had some cricket in him yet—took the greatest interest in watching the young players of to-day coming on, and the great thing was to impress them with the right spirit of the game. The public schools were producing some very promising material, though he would like to see more slow bowlers like Egan, of the King’s School. In response to requests for his assistance in training the boys— and he was always delighted to afford any help possible—he had last season ’ given the King’s School boys a lecture on cricket and had been up to their nets on a few afternoons. Similar requests havingbeen made to him at the dinner oh behalf of the North Shore Grammar School, he undertook, if that s'chool would, like it, to do the same this season for them. ALLOWANCES TO AUSTRALIANS Ihe board of control will also determine the allowances to be made to Australian players for the test match es. On the last tour, the amount, formerly £25 per match with travelling and hotel expenses, wa s increased to £3O per match; that is, a bonus of £5 was awarded in addition to the £25. In view oj: the inconvenience, business disarrangerment,- and the arduous character of the campaign of five Tests, as well as the immense gate money gathered in, this amount is no more than it ought to be. The gross gates for the five Tests of the last English team in Australia, amounted to a trifle under £40,000, hence it is fitting that the players should be treated in no niggardly way. AUSTRALIAN PROSPECTS. Referee. IVhen the 1921 Australian Eleven left for England, if was felt that, with ordinary luck, they would win the Ashes. There is not the same feeling of confidence to-day. The Englishmen may develop very high-class fighting powers out there in the middle, if their fieldsmen be of the brand that saves every run and snares every catch. Nippy bowling is not Australia’s long suit now”, but who knows what a few weeks may produce? The M.C.C. English team will arrive at Fremantle on Tuesday next. This brings home to us the pleasing fact that we are on of big things in cricket They will open the match programme on the following Friday against West Australia. The three matches there should get the visitors into tolerably good fettle for the more important Eastern programme. Meanwhile, cricketers on this side of Australia —apart from the club premier ships in the different cities —will not he idle. The W. P. Howell benefit match is to commence in Sydney next week. Though the Victorians are not to figure in it. South Australia anti Queensland will be represented by some of their finest plavers. There will

nrohablv he sir Adelaide men. in addi tion to popular Clem Hill. Queensland 'will have two or three xnen. no doubt.

All eyes will be on the bowling talent from other parts, for the results of the Test niatenes may hang more on bowling than on- batting. Australia is somewhat deficient in attack of real sting, on the glossy pitches, that is, among men who have already figured in test cricket, some of whom are not quite so dangerous as they were. P. M. Hornibrook’s form. will ■ be noted very closely. C. V. Grimmett, the slow bowler, who lias transferred from Melbourne to Adelaide, is no stranger in Sydney. We saw him with the Sydney District S.C. some few years ago—a keen trier and a good, heady bowler, also a most excellent field. Arthur Richardson’s bowling, too, will also come under review of the critics on the hill and elsewhere. The batting in the coming match will have less interest to the public from the point of view of the Test team selection, yet the form of some of the sta.r s in the past Tests, such as Warren Bardsley and Charles Macartney, will be noted with .no less critical keenness than that of the younger men? VICTORIA CRICKET. The opening day of the Melbourne season was dull in every sense. Gearing was low and slow, and with a few exceptions the bowling was poor: What should have been a bowler’s harvest was nullified by bad length or the lack of knowledge of how to bowl on fain affected wickets. It is a significant thing about Victorian cricket, though peculiar to most other States, that club form is not indicative of big cricket form. Taking some of the players on their club form it would be difficult to know why they have found a place in the Interstate team, but the good club cricketer doesn’t necessarily make the best firstclass man. The results of the first round are Hot very flattering to the Sheffield Shield State, but, according to club reports, all those with possibilities are practising with rare enthusiasm, and, gives decent- cricketing weather, the players should not be long in jumping into their stride. TOO MUCH STONEWALLING. An Australian, cricketer in England, who has seen first-class batting at Lord’s, the Oval, and other grounds, writes : “I have seen a good deal of nlay here, and the goose game is killing it. They are playing full-tosses back to the bowler, and letting halfvolleys hit the bat It makes one tired to watch, as good batsmen stay in half an hour for 20. Hobbs, in the Gentlemen v. Players match at Lord’s, was nearly an hour making 18.” It does not sound like glittering cricket.